SETTING

• In the ancient City of

Thebes.
Must tell you. Thebes is tossed on a murdering sea
And can not lift her head from the death surge.
A rust consumes the buds and fruits of the earth;
The herds are sick; children die unborn,
And labor is vain. The god of plague and pyre
Raids like a detestable lightning through the city,
And all the house of Kadmos is laid waste,
All emptied, and all darkened; Death alone
Battens upon the misery of Thebes.
The Scene in the Play of
Oedipus Rex
 Character Map
Married

Creon Parents
Siblings Laius

Jocasta

Married
Oedipus

Accused Adopted
Polybus and
Merope

Teiresias
JOCASTA/QUEEN
JACOSTA
• Wife of King Oedipus and mother of all
his children.

• Wife of the deceased Laois.

• The one who unraveled the details of the

muder of Laois.

• She took her own life for she cannot

accept the truth.
CREON
• Brother of Jacosta

• Prince of Thebes

• Send by Oedipus to Delphi to find the

solution to the problem of their city.

• Ended up to be the King of the city of

Thebes.
TEIRESIAS
• Clairvoyant to Lord Apollo

• He revealed that Oedipus is the

real murderer.

• He told Oedipus inthe

aforeshadowing moment that he is
not blind, but Oedipus.

• He declared the misery fate of

Oedipus.
PRIEST

• The religious leader and eldest

representative of the people in
Thebes.

• Praises Oedipus for being a great

King.

• The one who asked Oedipus to

solve the plague in Thebes.
• “As the man surest in mortal ways and
wisest in the ways of God”
SHEPERD
• Former servant of Laois
and the only living
person who witnessed
the murder of Laois.

MESSENGER
• A messenger from Corinth.
• He saved Oedipus when he
was a baby.
• He gifted Oedipus to King
Polybus and Queen Merope of
Corinth.
Chorus of Theban Antigone and Ismene
• Young daughters of Oedipus
• Elders Choragos and Jocasta
• leader of the Choragos
 The Sheperd

PLOT 7
revealed the truth
that Oedipus is
Laois’ child.

6 Oedipus is not the Jacosta hanged 6

real son of Polybus. herself.

Oedipus become 5
5 Jocasta told the old blind.
Oracle and details
of the murder of
Laois. Oedipus wished to 4
be exiled.
4 Tumult between
Kreon and Oedipus. Creon became the
3
King.
3 Teiresisa accuses
Oedipus as a
Oedipus cried with
2 murderer.
his daughters before
2
Oracle to find the his banishment.
murderer of Laois.
1
1
Plague in Thebes Oedipus was exiled.
and the promise The plague was
of Oedipus ended.
 CONFLICT CRISIS
• It started during the moment of Teirisias
asking Oedipus if he knows his mother and
father.

• Oedipus started to ask himself of who are his

parents which led him to dig more the roots of
his identity.

Man vs. Himself

 LANGUAGE
• Classical Greek
• The writing style of it is sympathetic
and tragic.
• Sophocles used a critical diction that
highlights how one’s guilt can lead to
their demise.
• It used some figurative language
such as methapors, simile, and
personification.
 THEME
• Sophocles’ classic play Oedipus Rex
epitomizes the theme of Greek tragedy:
prophecy and inevitability of fate.
• The play Oedipus Rex contains many
powerful themes, such as fate, blindness, self-
discovery, knowledge and ignorance.
THEME
• It takes acceptance of the truth to discover yourself.

• Blindness is addicting once your pride and arrogance

overpowered your mind.

• Oedipus: No man in the world can make the gods do

more than the gods will.

• Jocasta: It is God himself who can show us what he

wills, in his own way.